what-when-how
In Depth Tutorials and Information
he mathematical work that has been explained in this section is very useful
in the field of collaborative software development. As will be explained in the fol-
lowing sections, many concrete efforts are being made to put together a technical
software system that will make use of the mathematical equations and relations
that have been discussed here. Much good can come from grouping and organiz-
ing communication between different groups of programmers and engineers in the
correct way, instead of just leaving them to group themselves, or worse, grouping
them in some sort of random fashion.
However, technical systems are not completely necessary to make use of the ideas
of congruence, technical coordination requirements, and call-graphs. he matrix for
the technical coordination requirements, C
R
, shows us some very important infor-
mation regarding the level of coordination and working together that needs to take
place between certain people. Taking the matrix in Figure 15.3 as our example, we
can see the level of coordination that needs to be present between the workers that
are a part of the matrix's data set. For example, worker B has a coordination require-
ments value of 2 when paired with worker A, but a value of 3 when paired with
worker C. his tells us that worker B, though he or she does need to communicate
with worker A, needs a strong communication link between him or her and worker
C. Now, whether or not this “stronger link” represents more face time, a different
type of communication, or a technical “grouping” is up to the implementation of
the current situation, but the matrix tells us that workers B and C will need to work
together more than workers B and A, and this information is very valuable.
he mathematical function for congruence is also very useful in the world of
collaborative software engineering. he function for congruence is seen in Equation
15.1. In words, this equation for congruence is the technical coordination require-
ments matrix subtracted by the actual coordination requirements matrix, which is
found by grading the level of coordination requirements that took place throughout
the collaborative software development project, and then dividing the difference
by the determinant of the technical coordination requirements matrix. his inal
value, a matrix termed the congruence matrix, shows the level of congruence that
took place during the software development process, or the level to which coor-
dination actually took place when it should have, and did not take place when it
should not have. his value is invaluable for self-grading and self-evaluation of your
own collaborative software development process. If the absolute value of a congru-
ence value for a pair of workers is high to some degree, then the communication
and grouping of a pair of workers should be evaluated to deem if it is needed or
unnecessary.
he call-graph that can be produced is possibly the most important value that
can be found between a software development system's components themselves.
he ability to trace data through a software package and know which functions
and components will be affecting that data is very important. Knowing the certain
functions that will be affecting these data sets at any given time and what order
they will be called is also very useful.
